Serious questions for the BBC

Mail on Sunday headline

Maybe I wrote too soon in giving credit to Newsnight for 'breaking' the story of the alleged sexual assaults on two 14-year-old girls in Newcastle by Syrian refugees. According to the Mail on Sunday, the BBC now stands accused - along with the police - of a Cologne-style cover up of the alleged attacks:

Details on the alleged attacks emerged on Friday in a report by the BBC, which had been following the progress of the refugee defendant’s family since they arrived in Britain last year under the Government’s high-profile scheme to resettle vulnerable Syrians. 

However, the BBC’s Newsnight programme has refused to say when it first heard about the case. 

A police source told The Mail on Sunday the BBC had been informed four weeks previously in early May, when the teenage refugee had been arrested and charged.

 And Nigel Farage has commented:

‘Serious questions need to be asked about both the vetting of those the Government are allowing into the country, and of the authorities, including the BBC, who appear to have been involved in a conspiracy of silence over the case. 

‘When did they know what was happening, and why is it only coming out now?’ 

These are questions that clearly need answering, and quickly.